"We now skirted the north end of the lake, sometimes traveling in a valley and again along the shore of the lake where the mountains jutted down nearly to its shores." -- Nicholas "Cheyenne" Dawson, narrative, August 26, 1841 — — Map (db m105300) HM
Look down this path toward the sharp V-shaped notch in the shoulder of the mountainside ahead. Walking the Big Fill Trail, you can still see some of the violent fury of the final days of the race to Promontory, carved into unyielding limestone. . . . — — Map (db m171363) HM
This 1.5 mile round-trip route leads to two of the most significant railroad
construction features in the Promontory area - the Central Pacific's Big Fill
and the Union Pacific's Big Trestle site. The trail is easy to walk, thanks to the
two . . . — — Map (db m171369) HM
Mile 762.7 from San Francisco
Information about this siding is limited to ambiguous notations amending Central Pacific RR survey plats and profiles.
Onsite investigations have revealed no evidence of occupation. — — Map (db m105299) HM
Ancient Lake Bonneville once covered this area, including the flanks of Promontory Range. The waves washing against the ancient shore eroded fault-fractured rocks, creating the arch in the 300-million-year-old Oquirrh Formation.
More than . . . — — Map (db m171373) HM
Lacking precise instructions from Congress as to where to meet, and spurred by financial rewards for building grade, both railroad companies prepared railbed past each other for 250 miles. No parallel track was ever laid.
Promontory Summit was . . . — — Map (db m80934) HM
Looking toward the immediate completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad, Corinne Townsite was laid out in the Spring of 1869.
Railroad Financiers, Real Estate Promoters, Businessmen & Gambling Sharks, launched a boom to make Corinne the . . . — — Map (db m117001) HM
1870
This is the oldest extant Protestant Church building in Utah.
It was dedicated by
Chaplin C.C. McCabe and
Reverend G.M. Peirce on
September 20, 1870 — — Map (db m105257) HM
On this site the Corinne Opera House, for many years the largest recreation center in Utah outside of Salt Lake City, was erected in 1879. Built of red pine lumber with square nails, the leading stock companies, California bound on the new railroad, . . . — — Map (db m105258) HM
Helping to Build a Nation Steel production increased rapidly in the United States after
the Civil War. Prior to the war, the United States had not
produced one single steel rail. By 1873, it had produced nearly
115,000 tons of steel . . . — — Map (db m172235) HM
For four years Americans closely followed the progress of the Pacific railroad in their newspapers, anxious to see it completed. By May 1869, intense attention was focused on this desolate corner of northern Utah. The entire country was eager for . . . — — Map (db m171374) HM
A rough crowd had gathered at the far set of tracks 15 yards ahead. Six million spikes and six years’ work lay behind them. Now, only one section of rails was left undone. The honor of ceremonially “finishing” the Pacific railroad with a . . . — — Map (db m80931) HM
With an officer of the Twenty-first U.S. Infantry posed on the completed tracks and men of his regiment behind him, dignitaries of the Union Pacific Railroad stand for a photograph. Dr. Thomas C. Durant, Union Pacific Vice-President, is seen , at . . . — — Map (db m80940) HM
In this photo, taken one day before the transcontinental line was completed, a 30-foot gap in the railroad remained. A tent town quickly grew around the Last Spike Site, and two of the first businesses, the Restaurant and the Red Cloud Saloon can be . . . — — Map (db m80939) HM
Mile 748.6 from San Francisco
Monument was little more than a siding and wye for the railroad, with little evidence remaining today of the railroad era.
Its name came from Monument Point, a prominent landform visible from here. Photos from . . . — — Map (db m105301) HM
Spanning a Continent
The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 mandated that
American-made iron be used to fabricate all rail for
the transcontinental railroad. Although steel was more
durable, it was not widely available in the United . . . — — Map (db m171384) HM
The Presbyterian work in Utah began at Corinne June 11, 1969 under Rev. Melancthon Hughes, sent here by Rev. Sheldon Jackson, missionary and educator. This bell was later given to the first congregation. In the first century, the Presbyterians . . . — — Map (db m105261) HM
Mile 765.0 from San Francisco
This site was christened Victory on April 28, 1869 when Central Pacific Workers rested for lunch after laying six miles of track during the famous laying of ten miles of track in a day. The site was later named . . . — — Map (db m105297) HM
The transcontinental railroad was a commercial link which opened new markets and figuratively united the nation with bands of rail. Seen here are Union Pacific Railroad fruit cars en route to California to be loaded with perishables for Eastern . . . — — Map (db m80938) HM
Four months after completion, Promontory was a notorious boomtown composed of hotels, saloons, and gambling tents with a few stores and shops. Transcontinental passengers changed trains here until mid-1870. Many were victimized by resident gamblers . . . — — Map (db m80942) HM
After the opening of the Lucin Cutoff in 1904, the historic rail line north of the Great Salt Lake was of minimal importance. In 1942 the last spike was ceremonially “undriven” here before a crowd of Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, and . . . — — Map (db m80941) HM
Spiral Jetty is an earthwork sculpture constructed in April, 1970 that is considered to be the central work of American sculptor Robert Smithson (1938-1973). Built on the northeastern shore of the Great Salt Lake near Rozel Point in Utah entirely of . . . — — Map (db m223247) HM
The cut below you on the Union Pacific grade is a good example
of the stair step construction method used by the railroads. The
workers were set to grading, scraping and blasting on several
different levels of a cut at once. This method increased . . . — — Map (db m100047) HM
You are now standing on the historic railbed and to your right at the gate that separates the old railbed from the highway, the Southern Pacific covered an old trestle with fill on the steepest grade on the Promontory Mountains. For years helper . . . — — Map (db m80956) HM
Competing for fame and money, the two railroads constructed over 250 miles of parallel grade. Here the Central Pacific built the Big Fill before Congress gave final construction rights to the Union Pacific. Afterward, the U.P. sold the tracks . . . — — Map (db m80957) HM
Lacking time to fill the ravine before you, Union Pacific crews built the bridge shown in the photo. One reporter said that nothing he could write “would convey an idea of the flimsy character of that structure.”
You can still see the . . . — — Map (db m80958) HM
In 1870 the first U.S. Government weather station in Utah was erected on this site by the War Department Signal Service, U.S. Army Division of Telegrams and Reports, for the benefit of commerce. The observer was William W. McElroy. The station was . . . — — Map (db m105253) HM
By April of 1869, the Union Pacific was working its Mormon and Irish labor forces day and night in order to meet the scheduled deadline for the completion of the railroad. Below you is the last cut made along the transcontinental route. Cuts such as . . . — — Map (db m80952) HM
”More representative American locomotives of the period would be difficult to find. Both the Jupiter and 119 were of the eight wheel or 4-4-0 wheel arrangement. This style of engine was so common in the United States that it was called the . . . — — Map (db m80965) HM
“The original Jupiter and No.119 were scrapped at the turn of the century. Despite their absence, the replica locomotive tell the story of the building and significance of the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. Today’s . . . — — Map (db m80966) HM
A sharp eye can still pick out the marks of early railroad building along this rugged escarpment, even if the original iron rails and timber ties themselves are gone.
These fading remnants tell the story of a daunting engineering . . . — — Map (db m69108) HM
Welcome to the Transcontinental Railroad National Back Country Byway. The railroad grade you will be driving represents an epic achievement in American history, linking East to West in a new nation. Today, the landscape looks much the same as it did . . . — — Map (db m100000) HM
Not only did the Railroad Act of 1862 lay out a grand plan of connecting the continent by rail, but the legislation called for a communication transformation as well. A telegraph line was to be strung along the transcontinental route ushering in an . . . — — Map (db m125276) HM
This bell was brought to Corinne by Hyrum House to warn the community at times when the water was to be shut off. In 1896 it was used to ring in Statehood for the State of Utah. It was rung so hard that day, that it cracked, then was placed on a . . . — — Map (db m155256) HM
